Wake the Dead

I finished preparing the squirrel and gave some to Daryl to eat. We both ate in peaceful silence then he went back to sharpening arrows he made and I pulled my gun out. I was looking to see how much ammo I had left in it and realize I only had a few rounds.

I then found a rag that was lying near me that Daryl used to clean his arrows and I started to take apart and clean my gun. I could feel Daryl's eyes keep looking up at me while we sat, until Lori's voice rang out in the distance.

"Movin to the suburbs?" She asked as she jogged over, but Daryl didn't say anything. She came closer and noticed that I was sitting here. She seemed a little shocked and confused, but brushed it off. "Listen, Beth's in some kind of catastrophic shock, and we need Hershel."

"Yeah, so what?" Daryl said, not even looking up, causing Lori to crouch down next to him.

"So, I need you to run into town and bring him and Rick back." She said.

I think it was kind of rude to just tell Daryl what to do, but I understand where she was coming from. Daryl stayed silent, still not looking up.

"Daryl." She said, causing him to look at her and then back at his arrows.

"Ya bitch went window shoppin, ya want him, fetch him yourself. I got better things to do." He said with his hard mask on.

"What's the matter with you? How could you be so selfish?" Lori said. She's going to regret that..

"Listen to me, Olive Oil." Daryl said now standing up. "I was out lookin for that little girl every single day. I took a bullet and an arrow in the process. Don't ya tell me about getting my hands dirty!" He said as he waved his knife around. "Ya want those two idiots, have a nice ride. I'm done lookin for people." He said, sitting back down.

Lori started to walk away, but I quickly stood up and walked over. "Wait, Lori!" I called out to her. "I'll go." Even though Lori was totally in the wrong for the things she said to Daryl, I wasn't going to let her go out there by herself with the baby. "I'll be over in a sec." I said to her, receiving a nod and a big thank you from her.

I walked over and finished putting my gun back together. "What, now you're gona go do her dirty work? Let the bitch find em herself!" Daryl said walking over to me.

"We need Hershel here and soon, I'm doin Beth a favor, too. Plus, I'm not gona let Lori go out there by herself with her condition." I said as I stood up and put my gun in the waist band of my pants.

"What damn condition? And what 'bout you? Just gona go out there by ya self?"

"Yep. I can handle my self." I said as I walked past him.

"Fine, it's ya life!" I heard him call out.

It wasn't that big of a deal, I just had to go find them and bring them back, no biggie.

I went back and found Lori, receiving more thank yous and then where to find them at. I hopped into one of the cars and took off, driving to the local bar.

I walked out of the car and quietly opened the door to the bar, only to have guns pointed at my head by Glenn and Rick. They saw it was me and relaxed. "What are you doing here?" Glenn asked.

"Lori sent me. We need Hershel, Beth isn't doin so good." I said as I stepped in and closed the door behind me.

"Just go. Just go!" Hershel called out.

"I promised Maggie I would bring you home safe." Rick said.

"Like you promised that little girl?" Hershel said with a sad laugh. I tensed up and took a step forward, that was an unnecessary comment. Rick just put is arm out, signaling me to stay and walked over. "So what's your plan then? To stay here and drink your self to death? Leave your girls?" Rick said with anger.

"Stop tellin me how to take care of my family! Of my farm! You people are like a plague! I do the christian thing, give you shelter and you destroyed it all!" Hershel yelled, facing Rick.

"The world was already in bad shape when we met." Rick said in a calmer voice.

"And you have taken no responsibility! You're supposed to be their leader!" Hershel yelled, causing Rick to yell.

"I'm here now! Aren't I?!"

Hershel backed up and sat down, going on a rant about hope, but the last thing he said really caught my attention. "When that little girl walked out of the barn, I saw it on your face. You know it, too. There is no hope. Don't you?"

Rick didn't say anything. He had lost his hope and I knew that he was going to crash and burn soon enough. You can't be a leader with out something to hold on to.

"Look I'm done. I'm not doing this anymore." Rick said as he got in Hershel's face. "Cleanin up after you. You know what the truth is? Nothing has changed. Death is death, it's always been there! Weather it's from a heart attack, cancer, or a walker, what's the difference? You didn't think it was hopeless before did you? And now there are people back there that need us! Even if it's just for a reason to go on. Even if we don't believe it our selves! False hope." Rick said the last part as he looked right in my eyes.

"Ya know what, this isn't about what we believe anymore. It's about them." Rick said, finishing his speech, finally causing Hershel to put his glass down and stand up. We finally got him to go. But, before we could leave, the bar doors opened up and two men came inside. "Holy shit, their alive." They said to each other.

They came in and sat down, introducing them selves. We all introduced our selves and Rick poured everybody shots. I drank mine, loving the alcohol, but not trusting these men for a second. I could tell Rick didn't either because when they asked where we were headed he didn't mention anything about the farm, just said Fort Benning.

Turns out Fort Benning is gone, though, according to these guys. It was over run... not a very big shocker.

I saw the bigger one of the men kept looking back and eyeing me, making me uncomfortable and angry.

The guys started to get suspicious if we were hold up somewhere and kept on questioning us. We kept lying, but then they asked if we had a farm. Everyone was just looking around at each other, not liking where this was going.

The fat bastard who was eyeing me, walked over next to me and started to take a piss, winking at me. "Fuckin creep." I said, disgusted, and walked away.

"So this farm? It sounds pretty sweet.. How bout some southern hospitality?"

Rick denied more, causing them to get a little angry, but stayed calm. These guys were up to no good. The fat one started yelling and threatening, causing Rick to stand up and put his hand on his gun. "I'll shoot all three of ya in the head and take my self ya farm and this nice piece of ass right here." He said, then squeezed my ass.

I jumped away and then punched him across the face in anger for him touchin me. "Don't ya ever fuckin touch me, I'll kill ya!" I yelled at him.

"Whoa, Whoa, Whoa, calm down. Nobody needs to get shot." The other guy said, jumping over the bar to get a drink.

"I suggest you keep lookin. I hear Nebraska's nice." Rick said.

The fat bastard next to me then came over to me, putting his hands on my ass again and I saw the other guy go reach for his gun. I shot the bastard on me twice in the chest as Rick shot the guy across from me.

I looked and saw Glenn and Hershel with wide eyes, and then looked to Rick who looked up from the guy he just shot at me. I noticed the look in his eyes and I knew this was going to affect him, he just killed living people and he was against that. I gave him a nod, telling him he had good work and did the right thing.